


There's a reason they call it unconditional

by Legs (InsanityRule)



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: M/M, Post Season 4, if this isn't how season 5 starts I'll sue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-18
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-05-08 17:06:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14698593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsanityRule/pseuds/Legs
Summary: Thanks to Dr. Strange Ed is alive, but he'll be hard pressed to keep it that way without Oswald's help (and love).





	There's a reason they call it unconditional

Unexpectedly, improbably, and far beyond Oswald’s wildest fantasies, the first words Ed tells him are, “I'm sorry.”

Granted it's on the tail end of some comical charades indicating his need to use the nearby trash can to vomit, but it's a nicety he'd assumed beyond Ed's grasp given his antics.

“What for?” He asks idly. He hands Ed a bottle of water. “Drink.”

Ed swishes his mouth and spits into the trash can before sipping at the bottle. “Lee is,” he sighs, “was-”

“Is,” Oswald says. Jim won't be happy he spilled the beans within the first five minutes of Ed being awake. He honestly can't bring himself to care. “You're rather susceptible to this.”

“You don't have to patronize me.”

“I'm being serious. I can think of three separate instances-”  _ women _ , but Ed at his worst should still pick up on the implication- “where this sort of situation has interfered with you being who you are.”

Ed crinkles the thin walls of the water bottle, struggling to depress the plastic with his thumbs. “Fine, I'm susceptible to,” he waves his hand once but lets it hit the mattress, too tired even with that minimal effort to continue his theatrics, “this. I'm susceptible to this.”

_ To thinking every woman that happens to smile at you must be your true love, _ is what Oswald thinks. What he says is, “do you know what that was like? Finding you in the Narrows like that?”

Oswald doesn't, he can't. Ed is here and he's breathing and that's all he's going to focus on for now.

“Love isn't for me,” he says.

“That will only leave you more open to its siren's call,” Oswald says. Ed closes his eyes, tired but also trying to avoid answering. “I have an idea if you'd like to hear it.”

Ed's eyes flutter open slowly. “If it's freezing me again I'd rather not.”

“No of course not,” Oswald scoffs. “Just listen. I am useless with one, but priceless with t-”

“Don't.” Ed throws his head back against his pillow. “Love  _ isn't for me _ , Oswald. Third time's the charm, except it wasn't.”

“For the- I  _ love  _ you, you  _ idiot _ !” Oswald shouts. “I always have! Do you think any of this changed anything? I love an idiot. I've made my peace, now let me  _ help  _ you.”

Ed stares at him, eyes watery, arms trembling as he tries to push himself upright. “Oswald, I-”

“Oh, come here,” he near-whines, but Ed can't manage on his jelly arms. “Here, I'll come there, just,” he grunts with the effort of hefting Ed's dead- don't think that word full stop- he helps Ed up long enough for him to slump forward in Oswald's arms. His participation is lacking but the reverence in his eyes as he glances up at Oswald makes up for his limp grip.

“You are the smartest man I know,” he says. “But you are an oblivious idiot. I say all of this with love, by the way,” he adds. Ed smirks, but lets him continue. “I care for you, but more importantly I  _ trust  _ you, and I expect you to do something to prove you still deserve it.”

“I will,” he says.

He doesn't say how, but Oswald believes him anyway.


End file.
